President Mohammadu Buhari has said those who looted the nations treasury<\/p>\n
are using the Niger Delta Militants against his Government.<\/p>\n
He said Nigeria is now in recession because for 16 years of the Government
\nof the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, no savings were made neither was any
\ninfrastructure built.<\/p>\n
Buhari spoke at a town hall meeting with selected Nigerian Professionals
\nin New York.<\/p>\n
Nigerians whom Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant to the
\nPresident on Diaspora Matters and International Relations, described as
\n“15 of the best people God ever created.”<\/p>\n
The professionals were in New York to meet with the Nigerian President.<\/p>\n
Top flight aeronautics engineers, physicians, I.T experts, a Judge, a top
\npolicewoman, entrepreneurs, an Import Specialist at Customs and Border
\nProtection, professors, two straight A students, and many others.<\/p>\n
“I am very pleased with this meeting,” President Buhari stated. “Wherever
\nyou go in the world, you find highly competent and outstanding Nigerians.
\nThey not only make great impact on their host countries and communities,
\ntheir financial remittances back home also help our economy, particularly
\nat a time like this, when things are down.<\/p>\n
“We got into trouble as a country, because we did not save for the rainy
\nday. For example, between 1999 and 2015, when we produced an average of
\n2.1 million barrels of oil per day, and oil prices stood at an average of
\n$100 per barrel, we did not save, neither did we develop infrastructure.
\nSuddenly, when we came in 2015, oil prices fell to about 30 dollars per
\nbarrel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked; where are the savings? There were none. Where are the railways?
\nThe roads? Power? None. I further asked; what did we do with billions of
\ndollars that we made over the years? They said we bought food. Food with
\nbillions of dollars? I did not believe, and still do not believe.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn most parts of Nigeria, we eat what we grow. People in the South eat
\ntubers, those in the North eat grains, which they plant, and those
\nconstitute over 60 per cent of what we eat. So, where did the billions of
\ndollars go? We did a lot of damage to ourselves by not developing
\ninfrastructure when we had the money.<\/p>\n
“Talking of our military, they earned respect serving in places like
\nBurma, Zaire, Sudan, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, and then, suddenly, that same
\nmilitary could no longer secure 14 out of 774 local governments in the
\ncountry. Insurgents had seized them, calling them some sort of caliphate,
\nand planting their flags there; till we came, and scattered them.<\/p>\n
“We raised the morale of our military, changed the leadership, re-equipped
\nand retrained them; USA, Britain, and some other countries helped us, and
\ntoday, the pride of our military is restored.<\/p>\n
“Boko Haram ran riot, killing innocent people in churches, mosques,
\nmarkets, schools, motor parks, and so on. And they would then shout Allahu
\nAkbar. But if they truly knew Allah, they would not do such evil. Neither
\nIslam, nor any other religion I know of, advocates hurting the innocent.
\nBut they shed innocent blood, killed people in their thousands. Now, we
\nhave dealt with that insurgency, and subverted their recruitment base.<\/p>\n
“Those who stole Nigeria dry are not happy. They recruited the militants
\nagainst us in the Niger Delta, and began to sabotage oil infrastructure.
\nWe lose millions of barrels per day, at a time when every dollar we can
\nearn, counts. It is a disgrace that a minimum of 27 states, out of 36 that
\nwe have in Nigeria, can’t pay salaries.<\/p>\n
“But I prayed so hard for God to make me President. I ran in 2003, 2007,
\n2011, and in 2015, He did. And see what I met on ground. But I can’t
\ncomplain, since I prayed for the job. In the military, I rose from 2nd
\nLieutenant to Major-General. I was military governor in 1975 over a state
\nthat is now six states. I was head of state, got detained for three years,
\nand headed the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), which had N53 billion of that
\ntime in Nigerian banks.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod has been very good to me, so I can’t complain. If I feel hurt by
\nanybody, I ask God to help me forgive. He has done so much for me.
\n“After 16 years of a different party in government, no party will come and
\nhave things easy. It’s human. We need quality hands to run Nigeria, and we
\nwill utilize them. I will like to welcome you home when it’s time. But
\nI’ll like you to be ready.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Mohammadu Buhari has said those who looted the nations treasury are using the Niger Delta Militants against his Government. He said Nigeria is now in recession because for 16…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n